PARENTS are being asked to pay for education expenses as schools attempt to plug funding gaps, a survey has suggested.

It also indicated around one in six have asked mums and dads for cash to help with the running of their child’s school.

The findings, by two teaching unions, come amid concerns about growing funding pressures in England’s state schools.

However, two East Lancashire headteachers said they had seen their budgets cut by around £500,000 per year over recent years.

The survey, which questioned almost 1,200 members of the NUT and the ATL, found three in four said their school’s budget has been cut this year, compared to last, while 93 per cent said they are pessimistic about their school’s funding over the coming three years.

The poll also found 50 per cent of those surveyed said their school has bigger class sizes than last year while 73 per cent said their school has cut spending on books and equipment.

Richard Jones, headteacher at St Christopher’s CE High in Accrington, said: “This survey is right in pointing out the difficulties schools face in funding.

“Since I became head in 2013 our school has faced funding cuts of £500,000 and my challenge is to protect our front line services and quality of education.

“Education is a entitlement for children and as such we have no plans to charge parents for any of our facilities which ought to be centrally funded.”

Haslingden High School has also made half-a-million-pounds worth of savings since 2011, and will no longer offer some subjects at Key Stage Four.

Last month, headteacher Mark Jackson said they took the decision after receiving the school’s budget for 2017/18 which sees them facing a ‘more than anticipated’ reduction in funding.

Dr Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the ATL union, said: “Schools are already struggling to make ends meet and children are already losing out.